Robots Are Social Media, The TED Video

This is a very cool summary video presentation on social robots by Cynthia Breazea. As a child, she loved Star Wars and wanted to play with the robots in real life. She is an associate professor of media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the Personal Robots Group at the Media Lab.

(TED talk by Cynthia Breazeal on social robotics)

Robots touch something deeply human within us. Broadly speaking, I want to understand how to design technologies that support our valued human qualities that make life meaningful and worth living.

Technology should not "dehumanize" us, or make us feel or behave like machines in order to interact with it -- a concern and criticism I hear expressed too often. It should not isolate us or interfere with our ability to relate to or empathize with others.

I want a future where our technology deeply supports our ability to attain our highest and best selves for each other and our planet. Information and decision making are wonderful. I want to design personal technologies that also have "heart" so that we become the kind of people we truly aspire to be.

I've covered a number of these robots; take a look at these articles for more information and videos: